Huawei sues the US government over ban, says it’s unconstitutional

Huawei has finally had it with the US government and it’s taking the bait. Whether it will emerge victorious or humiliated is something the tech industry will be watching closely. In an unprecedented but not unexpected move, Huawei has filed a lawsuit in Texas suing the US government over a new law that banned Huawei’s products from use in federal agencies. It has labeled the ban as unconstitutional and seeks to have that part of the law overturned.

There might be little chance that Huawei will win that case but the act alone is enough to create ripples that will be felt in years to come. Huawei said that the US has repeatedly failed to present evidence of accusations of state-sponsored espionage and this lawsuit could very well force the US government to actually produce hard evidence. Of course, it might turn out to be more than what Huawei may have bargained for.

After all, it has recently been sued by the US over trade theft so Huawei isn’t exactly in the clear on that front either. This lawsuit could work both ways, depending on whether the US does have such evidence that the company is a national security threat. If it does, it will cement other countries’ decision to ban Huawei from government and maybe even public use as well.

Huawei is challenging the new National Defense Authorization Act, saying that the US government is in violation of the constitution by singling it out. In doing so, the US Congress has acted as judge, jury, and executioner, without even taking the company to court, Huawei says.

Huawei has repeatedly insisted that it cannot be coerced by the Chinese government to install backdoors, spy on its customers, or hand over data. Opinion, both legal and otherwise, are divided on whether that actually holds in practice.